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No. 607,855. Patented July 26, I898. C. INGREY.

WEIGHING AND RECORDING APPARATUS FOR COAL.

(Application filed Dec, 11, 1896.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet I.

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No. 607,855. Patented July 26, I898. c. INGREY. WEIGHING AND RECORDINGAPPARATUS FOR COAL.

(Application filed Dec. 11, 1896.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

THE News PETERS co, moYouma. WASNINGTON, n. c.

No. 607,855. Patented July 26, I898. C. INGREY.

WEIGHING AND RECORDING APPARATUS FOR COAL.

(Application filed Dec. 11, 1896.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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F .5 u [h no: roams runs 00.. mm'ouyng. wuumanw. p. cv

No. 607,855. Patented July 26, I898. C. INGREY. WEIGHING AND RECORDINGAPPARATUS FOR COAL.

(Applicnion filed m. 11, 1896.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4..

flu aria Mai aid m: NORRIS "Tens co. PrIOYO-UTHO. WISMINGTON, n, c.

No. 607,855. Patented July 26, I898.- C. INGREY.

WEIGHING AND RECORDING APPARATUS FOR COAL.

(Application filed Dec, 11, 1896.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Shut 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES INGREY, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

WEIGHING AND RECORDING APPARATUS FOR COAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 607,855, dated July 26,1898.

Application filed December 11, 1896. Serial No, 615,350. (No model.)

T0 to whom 1'/; may concern/.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES INGREY, A. M. I. O. E., a subject of theQueen of Great Britain, residing at London, England, have invented newand useful Improvements in W'eighin g and Registering Apparatus for Coaland other Materials, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved apparatus for automatically weighingcoal and other material and for registering the weight thereof, and hasfor its object the production of a simple and effective means ofobtaining the desired. result without the objections which exist withmachines such as have hitherto been employed or attempted to beemployed. In such machines it has been found in dealing with, say, coalas delivered in constantly-varying loads by a crane that if thereceptacle into which it is received is only supported in aweigh-beam byknife-edge centers the proper balance cannot always be maintained, andtherefore the correct weight cannot be obtained. It has also been foundin practice that in apparatus for registering the results of successiveoperations of a heavy Weighing-machine there is a tendency to producemany false movements in the registering-gear by reason of vibration andother causes, and as a consequence to give inaccurate results. I amaware that attempts have been made to overcome the former objection bycausing the receptacle to be at rest upon supports during the time thecoal is being received; but in such cases it has been necessary toemploy hydraulic or other power to raise the dead-weight of thereceptacle, the weigh-beam, and the heavy counterbalance in addition tothe load of coal.

Now the object of my invention is to obviate the necessity for raisingthe weight of the receptacle and beam, which are accuratelycounterbalanced upon knife-edge centers, so that a very small amount ofpower is required to perform the operation of weighing, and to constructthe registering apparatus in such a manner that it will accuratelyrecord all the varying loads.

In carryin out my invention I provide a fixed hopper having beneath it askip or re ceptaele which is provided with a door or doors at thebottom, the said receptacle being carried by knife-edge centers upon aweigh-beam, which is itself mounted upon knife-edge centers and isweighted at one end, so that the receptacle when empty, the beam, andparts in connection therewith are accurately balanced. In connectionwith the said receptacle are toggle frames or levers, which operate inconjunction with lugs on the receptacle to support the same normally andwhile the coal is being received. The doors at the bottom of thereceptacle are hinged and provided with catches for retaining them intheir closed position and devices for holding them in their openposition.

The registering apparatus which I advantageously employ with my improvedweighing apparatus, but which may be used in combination with otherweighing-machines, has compound levers in connection with which the endof the weigh-beam operates, the said compound levers being connectedwith a weigh-rod the movement of which operates pointers or dials. Iprovide one of the compound levers with an adjusting device,whereby theamount of leverage can be accurately adjusted and the registercalibrated, so that the weight of coal in the receptacle is correctlyindicated. I provide for throwing the register out of gear, so that whenthe weighing-machine is not in use the register cannot be operated.

To enable my invention to be fully understood, I will describe the sameby reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is asectional side elevation of my improved weighing and registeringapparatus, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with the hopperremoved. Fig. is a sec tional end elevation. Fig. is a sectionalelevation showing the mechanism for holding the doors open; Fig. a", adetail showing a plan of certain links, rods, and levers; Fig. 48, adetail showing the dog for holding up the weight of the right-hand door.Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 6 is a view of a cam hereinafterdescribed. Fig. 7 is a sectional side elevation of the registeringmechanism, and Fig. Sis a sectional plan of the same. Fig. 9 is asectional side elevation illustrating a modification in connection withthe registering mechanism.

Similar letters of reference illustrate corresponding parts in theseveral figures.

a is the framing of the weighing apparatus, and b is the weigh-beam,mounted thereon by means of the knife-edges c c. This weigh beam is inthe form of a frame, having par- 10 allel sides, as shown, and in whichthe weighing-receptacle is located and carried or supported. d is theskip or weighing-receptacle, carried in the said beam by the knife-edgesd d and having at the bottom the hinged doors 6 e.

f is the hopper, mounted above the receptacle d and carried by bracketsa ct on the frame a.

g are the balance-weights, mounted upon a pendulous rod at one end ofthe weigh-beam, and his the registering apparatus, connected to theopposite end of the beam.

1' 'i are pairs of toggle frames or levers, (clearly shown in Fig. 3,)which at their lower ends are directly pivoted to brackets on the framing a and at their upper ends connected by links 1" 1; to the saidframing, the said links serving to retain the upper ends of thetoggle-frames in position relatively with lugs jj on the receptacle d insuch a manner that when the said toggle-frames are straight, as shown inFig. 1, the said toggle-frames will bear against the under sides of thesaid lugs and lift the receptacle d sufficiently to 3 5 take thepressure (due to its weight) of the knife-edges d d off the weigh-beam,while when the said toggle-frames are bent-for instance, as indicated bythe dotted lines in Fig. 1-the receptacle will rest with the said 0knife-edges d d upon the weigh-beam.

In practice screw-studs j j, with conical heads, are applied to thetoggle-frames, so as to permit of insuring that the said frames shallmake simultaneous contact with all the 5 lugs jj. The conical heads ofthe screw-studs j j enter holes in the lugsjj, as clearly shown in Figs.1 and 3, and serve to retain the receptacle in its proper positionrelatively with the toggle-frames. The toggle-frames t' 'i aresimultaneously operated from both sides of the framing by the levers 70k and the linksl Z.

WVith the arrangement of toggle-levers hereinbefore described it will beunderstood that when the toggle-frames are straight the re- 5 5 ceptacleis supported rigidly in position, so that no load comes upon theknife-edges d d. When the coal or other material has been received, thesaid toggle frames or levers are caused to move out of their normalupright position, so that the receptacle is lowered until the weight isentirely carried by the weigh-beam when the operation of weighing isperformed, the movements of the beam being transmit-ted to the register.When the weight has been recorded, the toggle-frames are moved torestore them to their vertical position, thereby lifting the receptacle.

The doors 6 e at the bottom of the receptacle are pivoted at e e and areprovided with counter-weights m m, which serve to close the doors whenno weight is upon them. n n are the catches for retaining the doorsclosed and releasing them at the proper time to discharge the load.These catches n n (of which there are two sets, but only one of which isdescribed) are pivoted to the weighing-receptacle at 0 o and arerespectively provided with lever arms or extensions 19 p and with lugs19 10 A spring 19 connects the two leverarms 1) 10 and serves to drawthe catches into their locking position and in contact with the twostop-pins 19 19 With this arrangement it will be understood that whenthe lever 12 is moved to disengage the catch it the corresponding catchit is also moved through the medium of the lugs 19 p When the said lever19 is released, the spring 19 returns the parts to their normalpositions.

The necessary motions for operating the toggle-frames and door openingand closing devices may be performed by hand; but in practice I preferthat the necessary movement should be communicated from a crane or fromthe motor employed to operate the crane and to so arrange the mechanismthat 5 the weighing apparatus can only be put into action after a loadhas been delivered. Suitable mechanism is shown in the drawings, q,Figs. 1 and 2, indicating a crane-post, q the jib, and g (1 a worm-wheeland worm, re spectively, through the medium of which the swinging orturning of the crane is effected by the driving-motor. (Not shown.)

1' isa cam, (shown detached in Fig. 6,) which cam acts upon the roller1' of a lever s, pivoted at 8 upon a bracket 5 and connected by a rod 5with one arm of a bell-cranked lever 8 the other arm of which isconnected by a rod .9 with a lever-arm s, fixed to a shaft 8 upon whichone of the levers 70 for operat- 11o ing the toggles is mounted. Asshown in Figs.

1, 2, and 3, the cam r is formed so that when the cam is rotated in thedirection of the arrow, Fig. 2, the roller r will run through aheart-shaped path, while when the cam is ro- I 15 tated in the reversedirection the roller will be in a circular path, so that no movementwill be imparted to the lever. This variation of the cam-path iseffected by the employment of a switch 4, pivoted at r and nor- 12omally held by a spring r, so that at one end it is in contact with theoutside of the circular path. It will be obvious that when the cam runsin the reverse direction to that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2 theswitch will 12 5 automatically move under the action of the rollerbehind it into the position indicated by the dotted lines in the saidfigure and, when it has passed the roller, spring outward to the normalposition. \Vhen, however, the cam rotates in the direction of the arrow,it will be obvious that the switch will divert the roller from thecircular path. The said cam is so arranged relatively with thetoggleframes that so long as the roller is in the circular path of thecam no movement is imparted to the said toggle-frames, thelatterremainingin their normal position. (Indicated by the full lines inFig. 1.) lVhen, however, owing to the rotation of the cam the roller ismoved out of the circular path, the toggle-frames will be moved to theposition indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l to lower the receptacle donto the weigh-beam I). The cam in practice is so fixed relatively withthe jib of the crane that when the latter is in position for the grab tohang immediately over the receptacle the toggle-frames will be uprightand that as the crane is turned round to pick up a fresh load the camwill operate to bend the toggle-frames, so that the weighing will takeplace.

The automatic operation of the catches to release the doors is effectedbya cam-surface i on the worm-wheel g Figs. 1 and 2. This cam-surface tacts upon a lever t, connected by a link '6 to an arm 25 on a shaft 29,having bearings in the framing a. The arm i which is at one end of theshaft 15 as clearly shown in Fig. 5, is connected bya rod t with a linki, Fig. 1, depending from a pivot on the framing a in such a positionthat when under the action of the cam t the lever 25 is operated thesaid link i will be pulled from the position indicated in Fig. 1, so asto make contact by a pin t thereon with the arm 1) of the catch 72- todisengage the catches n n and release the doors. In order that thecatches at each side of the receptacle shall operate simultaneously, theshaft 25* carries at the opposite end to that upon which the lever i ismounted another lever 15 (shown detached in Fig. 45%) connected with arod and link i i, similar to the rod and link i t of the lever foroperating the other set of catches.

As hereinbefore stated, the doors 6 e are provided with counterweights mfor automatically closing them when the receptacle is emptied. Toprevent these counterweights from prematurely closing the doors beforethe contents of the receptacle are completely discharged, I provide formomentarily holding up the counterweights m m when the doors are opened.This I accomplish by the following means: For holding up the Weight onof the right-hand door, Fig. 4-, I provide a dog u, (shown detached inFig. 4 pivoted to the framing at u and acted upon by a spring a to pressthe dog forward into engagement with a pin "a upon the said weight whenit is lifted. The dotted lines at M, Fig. 4, show the position of thepin 103 and the tooth of the dog when the weight is in its liftedposition. To draw the dog out of engagement with the pin a against thepressure of the spring 262, I provide the lever 25 with an extension20', which when the shaft t" moves backward after the catches arereleased,owin g to the movement of the cam If past the end of the lever'6, acts against a pin a on an upper extension M of the dog it andpresses the same backward to the position indicated in full lines inFig. 4. The weight a fixed on an arm on the shaft 25', serves to assistthis disengaging movement of the dog against the pressure of the spring10 In order that a similar holding of the weight m of the lefthand doormay be effected, I pivot a dog 11, similar to the dog a, to the framingat o, and I arrange a spring r which tends to move the dog forward toengage beneath the pin 0 on the weight, as indicated by the dotted linesat r in Fig. 4C. The disengagement of the dog '0 from the pin 0 to allowthe weight to drop is effected through the medium of a rod 12 operatedat one end by a pin e on the lever t and connected at the other end to adepending link r which when the rod 12 is moved longitudinally duringthe disengagement of the dog it from the pin n impinges against a pin con the dog 12 and moves the said dog backward out of engagement with thepin 12 As the movement of the lever t is greater than the movementallowed to the rod under the action of the spring v of the dog '0, theend of the rod 11 with which the pin 716 engages, is slotted, as shownin Fig. 4, to allow the additional movement of the lever '6 Vith thisarrangement it will be understood that when the shaft t" is rotatedunder the action of the cam t to operate the catches a n to release thedoor the lever extension a will be moved, so as to allow the dogs u 1),under the action of their springs, to spring into the paths of the pinsa'0 of the balance-weights m m of the doors, so that when the saidweights are in their upper positions the dogs will engage beneath thesaid pins to hold the doors open. hen the load has been discharged, theshaft 25 commences to return in the opposite direction under the actionof the weight a owing to the disengagement of the cam from the lever 25'the extension 10' of the lever 15 by acting against the pin u on theextension 16 of the dog 'lt, disengages the latter from its pin a and atthe same time the dog 4; is disengaged from the pin o owing to themovement of the rod under the action of the lever 25 causing the link vto impinge against the pin o The upper end of the lever 25 is pivotallyconnected to the other part thereof, as indicated in Fig. 1, so as topermit of the cam passing the lever 25 without moving it in the backwardmovement of the crane, the said upper end yielding against the pressureof a spring i It is to be understood that the positions of the cams rand t relatively with one another are such that the cam 4' willfirstoperate to bend the toggle-frames to allow the weighing of the loadand commence to again straighten the toggles prior to the operation ofthe cam t for discharging the load, this arrangement insuring that theWeight of the receptacle is practically resting upon the toggle-framesbefore the vibration due to the discharge of the load takes place.

The recording apparatus 71. comprises a series of levers similar tothose of an ordinary weighing-machine, the various levers beingproportioned to one another to correspond with the pressure which theweight of the load brings to bear upon the machine through theweigh-beam.

The construction of the registering apparatus will be clearly understoodby reference to Figs. 7 and 8. In these figures, w is theweighing-platform, which is supported upon the compound levers wv 10 theformer of which is connected at one end 20 by a rod w, the movement ofwhich causes the deflection of a spring or springs or the raising of aweighted lever, motion communicated to which is communicated to aspindle, and thence to a train of wheels carrying the various pointers.

In practice I find it advantageous to arrange that the main pointer ofthe dial shall indicate decimals of a ton, the complete revolution ofthe pointer indicating one ton. A second or smaller dial will be usedfor indicating units of tons; a third, tens; a fourth, hundreds, and soon. In order to provide for adjusting the levers so that a completerevolution of the main pointer shall indicate one ton, I pivot to theend 10 of the weighing-lever w an arm 00, which by means of nuts 0c 00upon a stud 00 may be moved nearer to or farther from the fulcrum of thesaid lever w.

In order to communicate the pressure of the weigh-beam to the plat-formw, the platform has formed upon it a standard y, Fig. 7, to the upperend of which the weigh-beam is connected by a link y, as shown inFig. 1. A conical cover 3 is represented as being placed over theplatform to inclose the same and to prevent as far as possible theadmission of dust into the apparatus.

In order to prevent the movement of the registering apparatus when theweighing apparatus is not in use, I advantageously provide the followingarrangement: 011 the standard of the register carrying the dials I mountadoor ,2, adapted to cover the dials and to be locked. Adjacent to thehinge of this cover I form a cam 2, designed to operate against one endof a lever a the other end of which carries a rod a which dependsthrough the hole a in the end 10 of the weighing-lever and carries onthe under side thereof nuts .2 When the registering apparatus is in useand the doorz is lowered to the position indicated in Fig. 7, so as toreveal the face of the registering apparatus, the nuts .2 are so farbelow the under side of the end 20 of the weighing-lever that they willnot in terfere with the motions thereof. When,

however, the door is closed up in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 7,the cam a, by acting upon the lever 2 will lift the rod .2 sufficientlyto cause the nuts 2 to make contact with the under side of the end 10 ofthe weighing-lever and support the same.

In the foregoing description of the weighing mechanism I have assumedthat the weight is registered by a downward pressure of the weigh-beamupon the platform to. If desired, however, the upward movement of theend of the weigh-beam carrying the weights 9 may be utilized. In thisarrangement a rod z, Fig. 9, which at its upper end can be attached tothe weigh-beam, is at its lower end connected to one of a pair ofweighing-levers 2 2 the other lever of the pair being connected by a roda to the registering-dial. In this arrangement of levers, which will beclearly understood by reference to Fig. 9, I arrange the adj usting-arm00 upon the lever 2 which is connected to the rod .2 of the register. Inthis arrangement of the arm as it serves for adjusting the distancebetween the fulcrum of the lever Z8 and the point at which the pull ofthe lever 2' is communicated to it.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is- 1. In a weighing machine, a weigh beam having an openframe extending all around the weighing-receptacle and provided withextensions at the opposite ends of such frame as set forth, combinedwith a weighing-receptacle having lugs thereon as described, and withtoggle-levers not connected to, but serving to lift said receptacle bymeans of said lugs, above and entirely free from the weigh-beam andweighing devices, and to support it while receiving its load, and thenserving to lower the receptacle with its load. that it may again restupon the knife-edges of the weigh-beam, all as set forth.

2. In combination with a supporting-frame having an oblong or squareopening, a weighbeam having a correspondingly-shaped opening and havingprojections at both ends for the purposes set forth, aweighing-receptacle having lugs j thereon and adapted to be supported onknife-edges on said beam, and toggle-levers serving to lift thereceptacle away from such knife-edges by the act of bearing against theunder side of said lugs, thus temporarily relieving the weigh-beam andserving to support the receptacle while loading and then to lower itagain onto the knifeedges of the weigh-beam for the purpose of weighing.

3. In a weighingmachine, a weighing-receptacle having lugs thereon,toggle-levers pivoted at their lower ends to brackets upon the mainsupporting-frame of the machine and at their upper ends connected bylinks to the frame, said links serving to retain-the upper ends of thetoggle-levers in position relatively with said lugs, and meanssubstantially as set forth serving to straighten the toggles and thuslift the receptacles off the weigh-beam and to support it while fillingthe receptacle.

4:. The described means for raising the receptacle away from and forlowering it to rest again upon the weigh-beam, comprising in IIOcombination the toggles for such lifting and lowering, the links Z, eachconnected at one of its ends to one of the toggle-joints, shaft 5 levers71} on said shaft and connected to the other ends of said links,lever-arm .5 fixed to said shaft, rod 3 connected to one end of saidarm,bell-crank lever 8 connected to the other end of said rod, rod 8connected at one end to lever s, lever 8, connected at one end to rod 3cam '7' for actuating said lever s, turning crane-post q, Worm-Wheel gand Worm g for actuating the lover s and its described connections.

5. In combination with the weigh-beam, the Weighing-lever w, the arm 00pivoted to one end of said lever, and the stud s0 and its adjusting-nutsserving to adjust said arm relatively to the fulcrum of said lever, allsubstantially as shown and described.

6. The described means for closing the bottom doors, consisting of thecombination with them, of Weights m, catches n a pivoted to theWeighing-receptacle and provided respectively with arms 19 p and withlugs 17 p as described, stop-pins and p and a spring connecting saidarms and serving to draw the catches into theirlocking position.

'7. The described means for opening the doors to discharge the load, andfor again closing and locking them, consisting in the combination with acam-surface i on a Wormwheel, of a lever t and link '6 actuated by saidWheel, arm '6, rod 6", link i and its pin t arms 1) 1) and their catchesn n, and lugs 13 11 a spring connecting these levers, and counterweightsm on the doors.

CHARLES INGREY. lVitnesses:

G. F. REDFERN, J OHN E. BOUSFIELD.

